A SENIOR family doctor has claimed a new funding contract will mean he will be forced to cut vital services in favour of wealthy private patients.

Doctor Ian Burton from the Barlow Medical Centre in Didsbury said colleagues across the country have delayed a ballot on the new contract amid fears that surgeries could even be forced to close.

Dr Burton, 52, said: "We have only ever had one private patient here in the last 20 years and we are very uncomfortable with the idea. But we may be forced into it.

"The new contract was supposed to reward high achieving practices who are prepared to take on extra work such as vaccinations.

"But I'm facing a £10,000 to £14,000 drop in my annual salary alone."

Dr Burton said that surgeries in well-off areas such as Didsbury could suffer the most because funding is now directly linked to the prosperity of patients.

He added: "Many surgeries are already stretched I expect they will suffer similar problems."

Extra services such as wart removal and blood coagulating may be cut while positions vacated by departing staff may not be filled.

The UK's 11,000 GP practices received figures last week to help them estimate their potential incomes under the new contract arrangements.

But many doctors said they would be worse off, even if they were achieving high scores against Government targets.

Now health chiefs are attempting to revise the complex formula used to work out the allocations.

Dr Chisholm chairman of the BMA's General Practitioners Committee said: "We are taking urgent steps to ensure that no practices are destabilised, whilst preserving the principles underpinning the new contract and being fair to all GPs.

"A letter explaining the situation will go out to all GPs this week and we are holding emergency meetings to find acceptable answers. We will announce a new date for the ballot as soon as possible."